I hope everyone has had a good weekend. The weather here is gorgeous today, and that has put me in a really good.
April is the start of indie month!
Since starting this blog, I have made a lot of realizations. One is that consumerism is rampant and companies are finding new ways to infiltrate and market without us really realizing that it's happening. Another is that many mainstream brands are putting all their energy into coming up with a gimmick that they can market to teenagers and people in their early twenties rather than into sleek, high-performing makeup.
But I would say the most important lessons that I've learned are that I don't like palettes and that I keep buying the same colors over and over and over. We all keep falling for the same color patterns that are arranged slightly differently. And the majority of shadows in palettes are not unique whatsoever. But every so often, a palette will have one or two seemingly unique shades within a totally basic palette (looking at you, Modern Renaissance) and people go nuts for it.
When I set up my one week, one palette project, I put "singles" as the last week in rotation. I was never really into singles and had actually phased most of them out of my collection because I was so drawn into the palette mystique. Because I had so many palettes, I was pretty burnt out by the time I got to the singles, and they were like a breath of fresh air. I haven't really gone back to palettes since, and even more, I've been decluttering palettes and replacing the one or two shades I liked from each palette with singles.
I recently dipped my toes into indie makeup, and it has given me a completely new perspective. And it's because these shadows are so unique and pretty, high quality, and relatively inexpensive. There were several indie brands I was hearing a lot about, so I decided to order a few of the most unique shades to my collection from each brand so that I could sample them. My hope is that I can recommend a much cheaper alternative to the one of two seemingly unique shades in upcoming palettes releases.
I'm also a big supporter of small businesses (especially those that don't have shady business practices), so I thought this could be a good opportunity to give some exposure to indie companies.
Here are the looks I did over the weekend.
Look 1: Shiro Aurora Borealis
Aurora Borealis on the lid (over Pixie Epoxy) and Viseart Dark Matte 9, 10, and 11 blended into the crease.
Look 2: Shiro Alkahestry
Alkahestry on the lid (over Pixie Epoxy), Colourpop Silver Lining blended into the crease, and Colourpop 143 padded onto the outer corner.
Shiro Aurora Borealis
Status: Love
This was one of the shadows I was most excited to try. It was hard to capture on camera, but the color has a really beautiful teal/violet shift, though the violet does not pull as strong as the teal. I wonder if I had paired it with the purples from Dark Matte instead of the blue/greens if this would have come out stronger. Either way, I found this shadow really beautiful. I always love when I can pull in shadows from my Dark Matte palette, and I feel there are a lot of potential directions to take a shadow like this. I took it in a dark, smoky direction, but I think it could also pair nicely with some neutral brown shadows.
Shiro Alkahestry
Status: Love
I really love this shadow. It is basically Makeup Geek Blacklight or Urban Decay Tonic but with more sparkle. In all honestly, had I known how close it was to Makeup Geek Backlight, I would not have purchased it simply because I don't need to have duplicate shadows. I paired it with Colourpop Silver Lining and 143, which is no surprise because those are my go-to shadows for lilac-based looks. I also paired it with a dark purple liner from NXY (Vivd Brights liner in Violet) as well as the NYX faux whites eyeliner in White Smoke on my waterline.
My initial thoughts on Shiro Cosmetics are positive. Interestingly, I'm actually not a fan of the sifter in the jars. I'm so used to Fyrinnae shadows that I found the sifters to be a little in the way. But that's my only complaint so far, so that's no big deal. I have a few more shadows from the brand, some of which are more neutral, so I'll be using those throughout the month.
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